The College of Agriculture Food & Rural Enterprise (CAFRE's) former head of dairying and pigs, Ian McCluggage, has highlighted the need for livestock farmers to significantly improve grass utilisation rates.
He said: “Many farmers are actually afraid of grass.
“The reality is that annual grass production rates of up to 11t of dry matter per hectare can be achieved on many farms.
“However, utilisation rates can be down at around 5t in many instances.”
McCluggage made these comments while addressing the 2026 Ulster Grassland Society (UGS) annual conference.
He continued: “Climate change may well act to boost grass production levels still further during the period ahead.
“So forage production is not the issue – harnessing it effectively is.”
Food security
According to the former CAFRE representative, food security will become a major political issue on the international stage during the period ahead.
He continued: “Northern Ireland has a key role to play in this regard. Our two most important natural resources are an abundant supply of fresh water and a climate that is totally conducive to grass growth.
“Water availability is a key constraint for production agriculture in many countries – not so in this part of the world.”
According to Ian McCluggage, the amount of productive land available to each person on the planet has fallen back from 0.5ha some 70 years ago to just 0.18ha today.
He explained: “This figure will probably drop down to 0.15ha by 2050. This reduction in land availability for food production purposes has been brought about by a number of factors.
“These include population growth and the need to acquire more land for housing and enhanced levels of infrastructure.
“Agriculture’s response to this challenge is clear: farmers must be able to produce more food per hectare using fewer inputs.
“These are the fundamentals of sustainability that will drive production agriculture into the future.”
But underpinning all of this will be the need for farmers to generate profits sufficient to allow them invest in the future of their businesses, McCluggage said.
“Farmers cannot control international markets. But they can do so much to control cost levels within their businesses,” he said.
“Profitability has nothing to do with actual output levels but rather the margins that are made within a particular enterprise.
“So, for example, simply producing more milk at a loss makes absolutely no sense at all.
“This is why farmers must have a firm grip on their costs at all times.”
